d) I would make the fish swim smoothly and look more flexible but I think that at the moment, it has it’s charms.

e)If I had more than 30 seconds, I would give the audience more time to have a look at what is on the other side of the waterpond

f) I would add seaweed and other stuff to the water pond

g) I would add some stars to the night sky and make the night last longer

h) I would give the piranhas eyes (I had forgotten about them!)

i) If I had more than 30 seconds, I would like muggy to squirt the water out from his mouth like a fountain, also I’d make the fish bite him and flap around on the ground afterwards.

j) Next time I’ll try to record my own sounds.

Other than this, I wouldnt change anything. Im happy with the sounds, happy with the character movement and the look of the animtion.

I have learned that if you want to make a 30 second animation, it should be really simple. And that using varied programs can really open up possibilities. Using them in conjunction with eachother, you can make something really cool.

I think I’m getting better with time, organisation and writing the blog.

It is going slowly. I was wondering what to do about ending the story. The project task says that the character has to overcome the obstacle and I wanted to do that… but it seems like it’s funnier when he fails! Well, Andy says that he can fail. So he does.

After the story was 100% finished and I had made all the pieces of the background move, I met with big trouble. TVPaint wasnt good for what I wanted to do with my character. I tried and it just wasn’t possible to make it move the correct way and there was no time to waste. In the and I had to use different software for Muggy (Anime Studio Pro). I had to learn how to do everything very fast. Some things were much more difficult than others but I now feel like I know more about Anime studio than TVPaint at the moment.

Here is a little sample of the day and night shift

List for the sounds

To be honest, I didnt have any trouble with knowing how to show something to the audience for them to understand what was going on. I do, however, wish that I was given more time than 30 seconds… I had many problems with HOW to make something with the software. Well it really was a long, hard fight.

Using sequential digital drawing, create a 30 second animation that tells a story using the three act structure of a character overcoming an obstacle in pursuit of an objective.

Research, inspirations and influence

My idea was born really quickly. We had 10 minutes to plan, so after a few sketches of characters & backgrounds and preparing the story, I decided to use my initial idea and run with it.

The main character’s name is Muggy

Athough he is the total opposite of being ‘muggy’, what he tries to do often goes wrong. Also, I wanted the name to have something to do with one of the POKEMON, Muk.

My other inspirations for the character designs were:

The ghosts from Pacman

The Groke from The Moomins

Blooregard Q. Kazoo from Foster’s Home for Imaginary Friends

No Face God from Spirited Away

As you can see they all have similar shapes, big mouths and a few of them definitely like to eat…

When I was designing the piranhas I was thinking about the game Rayman Origins which I played some time ago

I had this weird feeling that piranhas should be coloured toxic green and pink. I’m unsure where the idea came from, but there must be a reason for it somewhere…

The background

I was inspired (and I think I always will be inspired) by Adrien Merigeau who was the main backgroud guy in “Song of the sea” (one of my favourites 4ever <3<3<3) and “The Secret of Kells” films, directed by Toom Moore who also has a big influence on my work.

I really love the result they came up with designing stones, trees and all the nature. It’s so simple but wonderful. I wish I had come up with it.

The fact that I was using the same program as them has helped a lot. TVPaint is fantastic software if you know what are you doing.

The Story

My idea is easy. Muggy walks around the forest, then he sees a pink flower which smells tasty so he eats it. As he walks across the field, he eats another two flowers and then comes across an obstacle in the form of a regular sized water pond filled with hungry piranhas. He takes a fishing rod out of his mouth (there is the story behind this aswell. Muggy can eat things, but he can also store them if he wants to. Nobody really knows how or where but he can. It’s a little bit like Terry Pratchett’s Luggage from the Disc World Series. (There’s another inspiration that I wasn’t even aware of.))

He tries to use the rod to fish but the Piranhas arent stupid so his idea doesn’t work. Day and night passes and he’s still fishing. He puts the fishing rod back into his mouth and takes out a big straw and sticks it into the water and starts drinking it. He drinks the whole water pond… including the fish. He becomes circular because of the water, falls into the empty pond and gets stuck in it.

The Sounds

Im planning to have a nature track in the background, something with birds & trees and maybe lake waves. Also, some sounds for eating, water splashing and all the other sounds that I can’t think of right now but I know I will need them hahaha

I already have a background. It didn’t take long really, just a couple of hours but it’s alright I suppose.